Relating broadly to equipment for testing the integrity of welds that join two or more structures together in a predetermined relationship and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for inspection and analyzing such a welded structure utilizing a laser and camera for inspection and to generate a signal as a result of the inspection, a microprocessor is used for analyzing the results of the inspection based on the signal generated by the camera and laser apparatus.
Welding is a fabrication process wherein two or more materials, usually metal or plastic, are joined by melting a portion of the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten metal (or other workpiece material) known as the weld puddle that cools to become a strong joint. In industrial and manufacturing settings, robotic welding has become commonplace wherein machines position the work pieces for welding and a robotic welder applies the heat and material necessary to form the weld puddle.
As may be expected, the integrity of the subsequent weld depends, among other things, on the positioning of the work pieces in relation to the position of the welder or heat source. In addition, the positioning of the filler material can also affect the quality and integrity of the subsequent welded joint. In the case of manual welding, the welder can adjust the position of the various materials in order to achieve what he or she feels is the best weld possible. Even then, a more precise inspection process could be useful. With robotic welding, when the machines have no independent capability to determine where to position the materials, other than their preprogrammed positions, certain tolerances may lapse and the weld may not be as good as it can be and, in fact, maybe dangerous with no one becoming the wiser until farther down the manufacturing process, if then.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a welding system that provides an inspection and analysis process directed to the finished weld joint. Further, it is desirable to have such a method and apparatus that is applicable to virtually any welding process but is more particularly directed to welding vehicle wheels.
Typically, during the manufacture of vehicle wheels such as those for automobiles and pickup trucks, the wheel is a two-piece unit having a wheel body, or rim joined to a disc. The wheel is typically mounted to the vehicle while the outer rim carries and seals the tire. As may be expected, such weld joints are extremely important in the safety of vehicle operation when the vehicles are equipped with such wheels. In the case of welded automobile wheels, safety becomes a primary concern because the wheels typically rotate at high rate and support the weight of the vehicle as is it propelled down the road. As can be imagined, catastrophic weld failure can have devastating results.
It would therefore be helpful to have a method and apparatus for inspecting weld joints in wheels. Further, it would be beneficial to provide a method and apparatus whereby qualitative analysis can be performed on the weld joint to use an analysis of the entire welding process.